Art to See Now, or Not: James Franco’s Selfie Paintings

Queen of the Night is dinner theater for the uninhibited., By Matteo Prandoni/BFAnyc.com.

Every week inThe Culture List, Vanity Faireditors present a ruthlessly curated selection of parties, art openings, exhibits, and mustn’t-miss events.This week’s list includes the underworld delights ofQueen of the Night*, the Bible in a quick five hours, street art you’ll want to take home, the critic-panned Franco exhibition, and more.*

Described by some as “dinner theater madness” and others as “sex for people from the suburbs,” Queen of the Night is neither. It’s a whole-body immersion in giddy, glittery performance that requires minimum inhibition for maximum delight. The show itself, only a portion of the experience, takes place in a grandly imagined fun house in the historic club beneath the Paramount Hotel: it begins as raw plywood and crumbling plaster, but, as you descend each staircase, becomes a jewel box crammed with richly imagined details—a stealthy leopard, a bathing vixen, the odd acrobat—in every nook and cranny. Every player, from the bright young things serving your dinner to the dancers and the queen herself, flirt, wink, and coax guests to surrender to the mood. Juggling, contortionism, and a suicidal French clown punctuate the unfolding drama and guests are pulled through the fourth wall at every turn. Just when a love triangle has emerged between the three principal dancers, a parade of dinner— lobsters in giant birdcages, whole sides of beef, wine in huge carafes—lands on your table with a flourish and a big knife.

They say it’s done on June 15, but there’s talk of the show continuing. Regardless, get tickets while you can.

The Mysteries might be the most interesting thing to come out of the Bible in centuries. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar orchestrates a five-hour extravaganza, retelling stories from the Old and New Testaments. He employed dozens of celebrated playwrights, including José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries), who wrote the evening’s culmination, Sermon of the Senses. The play features 54 actors, including an arresting performance by Flea newcomer Alice Allemano as the archangel Gabriel—her delivery is literally heavenly.

Emerging talent and Nova Scotia native Zak Bush—the in-house photographer for the super-luxury surf brand (yes), Saturdays NYC—presents his first solo show as an artist, moving constantly between places and ideas: from a soft beach in gray scale to an anonymous chunk of the Freedom Tower rendered in red. The opening is May 2 at six P.M.

“Sound Speed Marker” is a three-video installation about the interaction between landscapes and the movie sets that invade them. One of the films, Giant, is based on the sets left behind from the 1956 classic. The show is presented by internationally celebrated duo Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler.

A segment from Swoon’s “Submerged Motherlands.”, Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum.

Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais was Napoleon’s first wife and over her lifetime amassed a great many wonderful objects. Now, somewhat morbidly for the bicentennial of her death, her possessions and collection of 16th-century art are displayed together for the first time. Though Joséphine couldn’t bear him any children and they divorced in 1810, Napolean’s dying words invoked his true loves: “France, armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine.”